


Wisdom

by Kay (sincere)



Category: Tales of the Abyss
Genre: Embarrassing Anecdotes, F/M, Gen, Long-haired Luke
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-09-23
Updated: 2014-09-23
Packaged: 2018-02-18 11:14:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,340
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2346452
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sincere/pseuds/Kay
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In a quiet moment during their travels, it occurs to Luke that Natalia might be able to benefit from some of his hard-earned lessons about how the common folk live.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Wisdom

**Author's Note:**

> Contains slight suggested Luke/Natalia and Asch/Natalia but mostly just gen fluffy stuff. Warning for minor long-haired Lukeness. It's been a long time so I'm not 100% on any voices, forgive me. Written for a prompt on the Dreamwidth community fic_promptly: curtainfic, "he thinks he has to explain to her how shops work".

The marketplace was filled with noise and activity and movement, people caught up in the everyday affairs of their lives giving no attention to the handful of travelers passing among them. It had a very different atmosphere from the marketplace in Baticul, and it was completely new not to be recognized on sight. Natalia had to admit that she was somewhat charmed by it, her fingers curling in the strap of her quiver. She gravitated toward Luke, wanting to share the moment with him while the other members of their group debated about what sort of meals they wanted.

Luke glanced at her sidelong as she drew up closer to him, visibly dismissed her, and then seemed to change his mind a heartbeat later. "This is your first time at shops outside of Baticul, right?" he asked.

"It is," she told him, brightening. "It is truly nothing like the commercial district, is it?"

"Well, it's different not being surrounded by a dozen armed guards all the time," he said irritably. After a beat he added, "Come on. I guess I'll show you how it works."

Natalia was delighted by the invitation, but she controlled her reaction. "How it works?" she echoed, falling in beside him.

"Yeah." Luke led her closer to one of the carts and pointed at the strawberries on display. "So, say that you want some of those. Maybe you want to get some because Anise likes them."

"Anise likes them?" Some of her delight faded a bit. Anise was just a young girl, but -- still. Natalia wasn't entirely certain that Luke could name any foods that _she_ liked, or would think of buying them for her. "How do you know that?"

"She's told me, like, a dozen times," he said disinterestedly.

Ah. Typical Luke, then; Anise had simply managed to drop so many hints that the information had stuck in his head. "I see," Natalia murmured.

"So let's say that you want some of them. You can't just take them."

Natalia paused, surprised. "I beg your pardon?"

"When you're traveling in Baticul with your retainers it's one thing, but out here people expect you to pay them when you want something from them," Luke said, jerking his head to toss long hair over his shoulder. He puffed up a little bit proudly. "You can ask how much it costs. It's not much -- probably like 50 gald or something? Hardly anything at all. But you have to give them the money first, even if you were going to have the steward send along payment later. They'd rather have you pay for it now than wait for it, even if you offer them extra, because they can't be sure you're actually going to do it."

She listened to him with increasing surprise. "Yes, of course," she said, uncertainly. "Even if they were willing, it would be unfair to take their goods from them and leave them with nothing to sell and no profit made. Much of their gald goes to seed, taxes, and maintenance for their farms, and so their produce should go to whoever can repay their expenses."

Luke deflated a little bit, brow creasing. "I -- guess that makes sense, yeah." He scowled somewhat, glancing away. "I guess I hadn't thought of it that way."

His mood had gone downhill quickly. It only took Natalia a beat to think why. "You encountered someone who thought you were trying to steal from them?" she asked, not unkindly.

Poor Luke. He had never regained the poise and confidence that he'd had before his kidnapping. Whereas once he would have accompanied her through the Baticul markets with the dignity as a much older noble, conversing with and studiously learning from his subjects about how they made their living, now he had rarely even spoken to those subjects and knew little about their lifestyle. Uncle Crimson and Aunt Suzanne had spoiled him too much by keeping him locked away as they had. No wonder he had met with difficulty, on his own outside of the capital for the first time with no idea what to expect...

"I _told_ them that the manor would pay for it!" he snapped.

"And they would have!" she agreed quickly, but it obviously wasn't enough to soothe Luke's ruffled feathers.

Natalia cast about for something to say that would restore his good mood. Her gaze skimmed over Tear and Jade, conversing quietly over a package of wrapped fish, and then to Guy, standing off to one side with his arms folded. An incident came to her mind.

"You know," she said, quietly, "one time when we were younger--"

"I don't _remember_."

Natalia forged ahead, ignoring him. "--I forgot that Guy could not bear my touch." Not the first or the last time she'd forgotten. "He was talking with a fisherman in the marketplace, and behind the stand I saw a truly massive fish. I had never seen one so enormous before, it was much longer than the fisherman was tall! So I seized Guy by the arm, intending to draw attention to it..."

Luke's attention was on her now, curious; his green eyes were wide and unguarded, reminding her so much of the innocent child he had been when he first returned to them and nothing at all like he had ever been before then. He was rarely so tolerant with her -- she could not say whether his newfound patience was due to maturing from exposure to the outside world, to the forced closeness of their traveling companions, or something that had changed in her.

"Naturally, he threw himself away from me," she said, sighing. "He crashed into the stand, and it splintered under his weight, sending him and the entire contents of the stall to the ground. In one moment we had ruined hundreds of fish and destroyed the entire storefront!"

" _Wow,_ " Luke said, starting to laugh. "I just-- Wow. With Guy covered in fish! You guys must've looked like _idiots_!"

"No doubt we did," she said, finding that part slightly less amusing than he was. "And the fisherman was furious. Even though we were simply children, it did not stop him from shouting his displeasure at the top of his lungs."

Luke was still snickering. "I hope your guards taught him a lesson!"

Natalia felt her brow furrowing. "That is not the point, Luke. He was right to scold us! We had ruined days of his work and cost him a fortune." She had hoped... Well, such hopes were naive. Mostly she had chosen that story to show him that he wasn't the only one who had experienced difficulty interacting with ordinary citizens.

"Okay, well..." He was finally done laughing, and he folded his arms, leaning back. "What happened, then?"

_You fixed things,_ she thought. She only said, "We were still in Baticul. When he learned who I was, he accepted a promise that the castle would pay him in full for his troubles. I was quite mortified, however. I refused to leave the castle for weeks for fear that people would remember me from that disaster."

"And Guy probably spent the whole time in a hot shower," Luke said, smirking at the blond man, who was by now laden with groceries. He returned his attention to Natalia and added, "It's no big deal, though. I mean, things turned out fine in the end. I'm sure you were really generous with him and he probably ended up thinking you're perfect just like everyone else."

His tone was casual and somewhat condescending, but Natalia imagined that he wanted to reassure her, and it made her smile. She asked him, "Will you tell me what else you learned about marketplaces?"

Luke studied her for a beat, and then said, "Sure, I guess. Since the others don't seem to be done just yet."

She thought about taking his hand, but decided against it just in case it frightened him off again. She curled her fingers in the strap of her quiver and listened attentively to Luke's newfound wisdom.


End file.
